ISTANBUL, Feb. 5, 2010 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today pledged surplus mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles along with expanded access to classified information to U.S. allies to help in combating the threat of improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates conducts a news conference in Istanbul after meeting with fellow NATO defense ministers and those of other countries supporting the effort in Afghanistan, Feb. 5, 2010. DOD photo by Cherie Cullen (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The United States will now do whatever we can within the limits of U.S. law, and as soon as we...

BARACK Obama will make his first official visit to Australia as president next month as part of a planned trip to Indonesia and the Pacific island of Guam. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed the trip today, saying the President's visit was an important part of his efforts to broaden and strengthen partnerships necessary to advance US security and prosperity. Mr Gibbs said that while in Australia, Mr Obama would commemorate the 70th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the US and Australia. The President also looked forward to holding discussions with Kevin Rudd on issues including the economic...

Obama has made his own personality and identity cornerstones of US diplomacy. For those worried that US President Barack Obama is particularly antagonistic toward Israel, there's good news and bad news: The good news is that Israel is hardly Obama's obsession; the bad news is that his administration's conduct toward it is consistent with its pattern of backing away from embattled American allies - a predictable byproduct of Obama's approach to foreign policy through dictator outreach. Obama, more than any recent president, has made his own personality and identity cornerstones of American diplomacy. He assumes his potent charm can bend...

JEDDAH – The two-day visit of King Abdullah of Jordan beginning on Tuesday will see discussions with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, centering on regional developments, reviving the stalled peace process, and moves to ensure Arab reconciliation and solidarity to “counter Israeli maneuverings.” King Abdullah will also discuss with the Jordanian monarch the Saudi-Yemeni border issue, Palestinian dialogue to end internal division, the Iranian nuclear issue and strengthening Saudi-Jordanian relations in a wide range of fields. According to Jordanian political sources, King Abdullah’s meeting with the Jordanian monarch has gained importance due to regional and international developments. “The leaderships...

Around 3800 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed on Operations overseas and in Australia this Christmas, spending the festive season away from family and friends. Defence is also gathering Christmas messages from ADF personnel who will be serving on Operations this Christmas. The majority of Australian Defence Force personnel deployed overseas are working in a number of operational areas, including: Afghanistan as part of the Australian government's commitment to the international coalition against terrorism; Iraq and the Middle East as part of the Australian government's contribution to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq; East Timor as part of a...

Indian Premier Manmohan Singh Friday urged the international community to "stay the course" in violence-wracked Afghanistan. ... "We appreciate the efforts of international community to stabilise Afghanistan and it is our sincere hope that the international community will stay the course."

China , Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan... US president Barack Obama ran through the gamut of nations as he articulated another elegant Asia policy speech in Tokyo this week. Conspicuous by its absence was India. Was India not on his radar? Or was it such a close ally that he skipped naming it at a public function? It left New Delhi wondering. Just two days later, bam! He did something even more astonishing by acquiescing in a Chinese demand to let Beijing assume the role of a monitor in South Asia, an area where China is seen by India as...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House. Those mistakes — which ranged from initially having too few people on board to handle the workload to misreading Congress — have put the timetable months behind schedule and will push the prison's closure well beyond the January deadline, which Obama announced with great fanfare two days after...

HALIFAX, N.S. - Canada's latest contribution to the war on terrorism and piracy slipped out of Halifax harbour in driving rain Sunday on a six-month deployment to the Middle East. Before it left, family and friends gathered on the deck and in the helicopter bay of HMCS Fredericton for a couple of hours to bid an emotional farewell to the 245 crew members who won't be returning until next spring. As Evan and Bianca Entwhistle hugged, their 20-month-old son Finn sandwiched between them, it was hard to distinguish the tears from the rain. "The sad part with this little guy...

Japan has told the United States it will end a naval refueling mission [in the Indian Ocean] that supports the war in Afghanistan, a top defence official said...Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took office last month, has said he wants "more equal" relations with the United States and that he opposes plans to build a new US air base on the southern island of Okinawa...

UPI) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy of France says he wants to see victory in Afghanistan but has no plans to send more French troops to that country. Speaking to the Le Figaro newspaper, the French leader said he believes there should be a build-up of more Afghan troops, CNN reported. As for staying on in Afghanistan, Sarkozy told the newspaper: "I answer yes -- and stay to win. "But France will not send one more soldier," he added. "My belief is that more Afghan soldiers are needed. It is them who will be the most efficient to win this war...

The Dow Jones reached a significant milestone yesterday, and news outlets were abuzz with excitement. Olympia Snowe's vote for the Baucus bill was plenty fodder for the 24-hour news cycles. But, for Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in the United States, an epochal event transpired at the White House afternoon that should not slip notice. Lead me from Untruth to Truth. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality. (from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad -- I.iii.28) As the ethereal sounds of a Hindu priest's chanting of this Sanskrit prayer from ancient Hindu scripture filled the East Room,...

For over 50 years, one party ruled Japan virtually uninterrupted. During that time, Japan remained a loyal ally and supporter of U.S. policy. This month, a historic event took place. Japan has new leadership. In a landslide victory, a new party has done the seemingly impossible. A new freshman class of leaders now governs the Land of the Rising Sun. The effects are already rippling across the Pacific toward America. Yukio Hatoyama is Japan’s new leader. He officially took office last Wednesday, and he is already threatening to split with the United States. Hatoyama blames America for the global economic...

The eleven, according to a European source: Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand … and the United States. I assume our guys wouldn’t have bolted without the White House’s approval, so kudos to The One for showing a bit of principle. Every year this degenerate does his same Jew-baiting shtick — “It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks” — and every year our moronic media lines up to interview him. And every year, it’s the...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – France on Wednesday led a walkout of a dozen delegations, including the United States, to protest a fiery speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UN General Assembly. "It is disappointing that Mr Ahmadinejad has once again chosen to espouse hateful, offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric," Mark Kornblau, spokesman to the US mission to the United Nations, said in a statement. Delegations from Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and the United States left the room as Ahmadinejad began to rail against Israel, a European source said. Israel had already...

No longer content with destroying our nation on the domestic front vis a vis his healthcare reform proposals, President Obama today unleashed one helluva whopper today, essentially giving the finger to two American allies in eastern Europe. Demonstrating Democrats' staggering inability to forget anything that happened prior to this morning, our head of state and commander-in-chief decided to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland by, well, giving Poland the finger. Our glorious leader, in all his wisdom, has decided to kill a planned missile defense system in that country as well as the Czech Republic. All...

Poland and the Czech Republic, which only shed Moscow's yoke 20 years ago, had hoped that the missile shield would provide tangible, if symbolic, evidence of the United States' commitment to their interests and the defence of the region. Now deprived of that, many in Central Europe fear that Russia's influence in the region will go unchecked. This has rekindled latent fears across Central Europe that its security has been sacrificed at the altar of great power politics.

For the Czech prime minister Jan Fischer, the news came in a call hastily placed by President Barack Obama, shortly after midnight on Thursday in Prague. In Warsaw, his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk initially declined to answer the phone from the White House - as he guessed the purpose, from the unusual timing, and wanted to prepare a response. Mr Obama last week unveiled the most dramatic national security reversal of his presidency by scrapping his predecessor George W Bush's planned anti-ballistic missile shield in eastern Europe. With this volte face, the Obama administration has brought the curtain firmly down...

It was the worst thing that the American government could do. This decision was announced on 17 September, when Poland was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Invasion Day, when the Soviet Union allied with Nazis and stabbed our country in the back. This was an effect of the Nazi- Soviet Pact that was signed on 28 August in Moscow. After this day, all dreams about resisting Hitler's invasion perished -- two evil empires combined their powers to destroy our freedom and sovereignty. At the same day, 70 years later, Obama bowed to the Kremlin. It was something that...

The gist of the article is this: Obama's line of reasoning may be off but the outcome is still useful from an isolationist perspective. Isolationist do not want USA in Poland or anywhere else for that matter. Then we argue that, if you have to have an ally with someone, may as well make it Russia, because at least they fight. Has a cool picture (from Wikimedia) of a bunch of Russian soldiers at Stalingrad with Poposhovs.